Title

Burning Candles

Problem Scenario

I want to know what type of wax has the biggest impact on candle burning time and what wax makes the candle last the longest.

Broad Question

What type of wax has the biggest impact on candle burning time?

Specific Question

What type of candle wax makes the candle burn the longest?
Hypothesis
If I compare Paraffin, Bee's, and Vegetable Pure wax to see which wax candle lasts the longest, Paraffin wax will last the longest because it is used in the most popular branded candles in the world, Yankee Candle.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable: Type of wax

Dependent Variable: Height/size of candle

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: wind, height

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Beeswax: or "Bee Sweat" is a natural wax produced in the bee hive of honey bees of the genus Apis.
Vegetable Pure Wax:
Paraffin: white, more-or-less translucent, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid.

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General Plan

I will lay out three different candles with the same size, but different waxes. I will time how long each different candle will take to burn and compare which is the best for its price. I will write each result down in a table. I will conduct this experiment at my house and set up a high table that nobody will be using. One of the problems that I might have to deal with is making sure the measurement and time are very accurate and that's why I am doing the experiment twice. One of the safety concerns I have for doing this project is making sure that there isn't any objects near the candles in case something catches on fire.

Potential Problems And Solutions

Being able to check on the candles every half an hour, put them in a place where I won't forget to check on them and a day where I'm not busy. Making sure the candles are the same size, measure them.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

I need to make sure that the candles aren't near other objects, so that things won't get caught on fire. Also I need to make sure that my dog won't be near the candles, so I will do the project on a high table.

Experimental Design

The base of my experiment is to have three different types of candles. I will do the experiment once on February 17th. There are three subjects in both trials.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Number needed	Where I will get this	Cost
soy candles	2	any candle store	$4.00-$10.00
bees wax candles	2	online	$4.00- $10.00
Paraffin wax candles	2	any candle store	$4.00- $10.00

Detailed Procedure

1. Get candles with pure vegetable palm wax, paraffin wax, and Bee's wax.
2. Make sure they're all the same size
3.Write down price of all the candles bought individually
4.Get three lighters
5. light the soy, paraffin, and bee's wax candles at same time
6. Check the candles and write down results every hour of burning time
7. Compare results and the prices to see which wax is the best
8. Observe which one burned the fastest, the slowest, and the one in the middle

Diagram

Photo List

Time Line

February 1	Procedure and work done
February 4	Do 1st test
February 12	Do 2nd test
March 1	Finish analysis

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Data Table

Type	Paraffin	Vegetable Palm Wax	Bee's
Time it took to burn
Height

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Data Analysis

Type	Paraffin	Vegetable Palm Wax	Bee's
Time	9 hours 35 minutes	8 hours 35 minutes	8 hours 30 minutes
height	23 centimeters	23 centimeters	23 centimeters

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

Results

My results showed that the Paraffin Candle lasted the longest. It lasted 9 hours and 35 minutes. The Vegetable Pure Wax and Bee's lasted just about the same except the Bee's melted 5 minutes faster. The Bee's only lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes, which is over an hour faster than the Paraffin wax candle.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my hypothesis was half correct. I hypothesized that the Vegetable Palm Wax would burn the fastest and then the Beeswax, but after doing the experiment, the results were that the Beeswax candle burned the fastest and then the Vegetable Palm Wax. The Beeswax candle burned only five minutes faster than the Vegetable Palm Wax candle. The Paraffin Candle burned over an hour longer than the fastest candle, the Beeswax. Before doing the experiment I made sure that all of the candles measured approximately 23 centimeters tall. By the end all of the candles lasted at least 8 hours and 30 minutes. The Paraffin candle lasted 9 hours and 35 minutes. In this case, I would say the Paraffin candles are the better buy.

Discussion

If I could improve my project, I would've added more to it. I would've added a new variable to make my project more noticeable I also would have done the project more than once and I would have also started my experiment earlier than I did. If I started my project earlier, I would've had more time to think about adding a new variable to my experiment and I could have redid the experiment to make the results a little more accurate.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

Background Research

After researching each of the waxes, I found out a lot about each of them. A lot of people tell me that they have never heard of Vegetable Palm Wax, that’s because it is a type of soy wax, which is what I was originally going to do instead. Soy wax only comes in container candles because soy wax has a lower melting point, so I couldn’t do soy. When I researched Vegetable Palm Wax, I found out that it is a type of Soy wax. Soy wax is a processed form of soybean oil. It is softer than Paraffin wax with a lower melting temperature.

The next candle I researched was paraffin. Paraffin is a white, more-or-less translucent, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid. The feedstock for paraffin is slack wax. Slack wax is a mixture of oil and wax. Paraffin is used in candles, for coating paper, and for various other purposes.

The last candle I researched was Beeswax. Beeswax is long burning and gives off a wonderfully light honey smell. Beeswax develops a powdery coating called bloom. Beeswax is made by local USA honeybees and it also has its own fragrance. Beeswax candles are made from unbleached & naturally yellow wax and the natural color may vary from golden yellow to a golden tan.

References

http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=7&sid=812c666b-f642-4b59-b78c-5f9967dcc42a%40sessionmgr11&hid=117&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=mih&AN=85533307

http://web.ebscohost.com/src/results?sid=812c666b-f642-4b59-b78c-5f9967dcc42a%40sessionmgr11&vid=9&hid=117&bquery=Beeswax&bdata=JnR5cGU9MCZzaXRlPXNyYy1saXZl

Abstract

Abstract

At first for my project, I was going to compare colors of candles, but I wanted to do something a little different than a lot of people. I researched the top three different types of waxes in candles and compared them instead. I laid out the paraffin, beeswax, and vegetable palm wax candles and lit them at the same time. I measured each candle every thirty minutes for over nine hours. In the end my hypothesis was half correct. The paraffin wax melted the slowest.